XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ab.politics   
   XPost: sk.politics, man.politics, mtl.general   
   From: puela@nyet.ca   
      
   Now our Prime Minister-in-a-closet is going to pretend that the acts in Paris   
   are somehow a threat against HIM personally.   
      
   "Tight security" for our scaredy-cat PM in a single room at Kingston's City   
   Hall?  That security plus the number of media probably left room for just   
   enough attendees to call a quorum for the meeting.   
      
   THIS is just another example of him pandering to the fears and hatreds of his   
   rightwing supporters.  . . .  And costing us, the taxpayers, still more for his   
     phony antics.   
   __________________________________________   
      
      
   Stephen Harper paid tribute to the country's first prime minister Sunday,   
   marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of Sir John A. Macdonald by saying   
   the Scots-born politician "forged Canada out of sheer will."   
      
   "Never forget, there was nothing certain or inevitable about what Macdonald and   
   his fellow fathers of Confederation accomplished. It was in fact remarkable,"   
   Harper told a room full of dignitaries — including two former prime   
   ministers —   
   under tight security at the historic city hall in Kingston, Ont.   
      
     "Without Sir. John A. Macdonald, Canada as we know it — the best country in   
   the world — simply would not exist," Harper said to applause.   
      
   Macdonald's political career as a Kingston alderman began the year the   
   cornerstone of Kingston City Hall was laid, 1843, and after his death the first   
   prime minister of Canada lay in state in the same room where Harper delivered   
   his remarks.   
      
   Harper called Macdonald "a shining example of modesty, hope and success," that   
   mirrors the country itself.   
      
   	{my comment:  Sir John A was also a notorious gambler, heavy drinker, a   
   candidate who took bribes, and a man who married his first cousin.)   
      
   The Royal Canadian Mint showed off the template of a new Macdonald $2 toonie,   
   and a refurbished portrait of Sir John A. was unveiled.   
      
   It was a decidedly non-partisan event — with former Liberal prime minister   
   John   
   Turner and Progressive Conservative Kim Campbell in attendance — but Harper's   
   comments dovetailed with his Conservative party election message this year that   
   Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is unready to govern despite his lineage and   
   high-profile name.   
      
   "Nation building is never complete," said Harper, noting the "challenges and   
   opportunities" are even greater for the country as it approaches its 150th   
   birthday.   
      
   "So as we proudly participate in the celebrations of 2017, let us always   
   remember that so much of it was made possible by an ordinary man of whom little   
   was expected but who, given the opportunity, did extraordinary things," said   
   the prime minister.   
      
   Transport Minister Lisa Raitt, left, and Canada Post CEO Deepak Chopra unveil a   
   stamp of Sir John A. Macdonald during a ceremony at Kingston city hall to mark   
   the bicentennial of the birth of Canada's first prime minister Sunday. (Fred   
   Chartrand/Canadian Press)   
      
   "That, in my mind, is really what this country is all about, like none other in   
   the world: A country where what you've done and where you're going always   
   matter more than where you're from or who you know."   
      
   Ted Hsu, the local Liberal MP who won't seek re-election this year, saw nothing   
   partisan in Harper's remarks and said it was a fitting tribute.   
      
   "One of the things that made Canada possible was (Liberal) George Brown   
   crossing the floor, and the (founding) party was known as the   
   Liberal-Conservatives," Hsu said in an interview.   
      
   "Different parties getting together, different religions getting together,   
   different languages getting together, people living in different geographic   
   regions of Canada getting together — I think that's the legacy of Sir John   
   A.,   
   so it's very appropriate that it not be partisan."   
      
      
   Anniversary spurs re-evaluation   
      
   The bicentenary of Macdonald's birth has spurred a fresh round of historical   
   review and research, including some unflattering depictions of Macdonald's   
   policies and attitudes toward Canada's First Nations. He helped implement and   
   defended the residential schools system in the 1880s, a blight on the country   
   whose impacts remain felt to this day.   
      
   Harper did not raise the schools issue in his speech but did allude to   
   Macdonald's "faults and failures" — specifically Sir John A.'s notorious   
   battles with the bottle.   
      
   Prime Minister Stephen Harper said so much good came from Sir John A.   
   Macdonald, calling him an ordinary man of whom little was expected. (Fred   
   Chartrand/Canadian Press)   
      
   "Whatever (the cause), Macdonald was acutely aware of his own humanity and, as   
   a consequence, very forgiving of it in others."   
      
   Two native elders blessed the event before the prime minister's speech. A   
   handful of enterprising protesters — one leading a donkey, another a sheep   
   —   
   paraded on the streets outside where local and national police made a show of   
   providing very evident security.   
      
   Campbell, Canada's only female prime minister who served for just over four   
   months as a Progressive Conservative in 1993, said in an interview that   
   Macdonald should be viewed as a man of his times who shared the prevailing   
   opinions of the day toward natives.   
      
   "We've built a society with the rule of law and with respect and protection for   
   people that enables us to be resilient. And it started with Sir John A.   
   Macdonald at Confederation," said Campbell.   
      
   "The fact of the matter is he really did have a vision and he followed it up.   
   The building of the railway, the creation of the Northwest Mounted Police so   
   that there would be law and order on our side of the border in the West. On the   
   American side it was a no-man's land and the rule of the gun."   
      
   Harper did not make himself available to the large media contingent on hand for   
   the event and did not take questions from reporters afterwards.   
   ______________________________________________   
      
   Likely Harper slipped out without talking to the media was because he   
   anticipated some embarrassing questions.  Like:  'If you say you're so proud of   
   Sir John A's role in uniting Canada, why are you working so hard to now divide   
   it' ?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)